Gov. Cuomo, in his first major battle with Bill de Blasio, is
engaged in a last-ditch effort to block leftist Councilwoman Melissa
Mark-Viverito from becoming council speaker, Democratic insiders have
told The Post.
Cuomo has been working behind the scenes with city Democratic
leaders, including Assemblyman Carl Heastie, the Bronx party chair, and
US Rep. Joseph Crowley, the Queens chair, to line up support for
Councilman Dan Garodnick, the other candidate in the race, the insiders
said.
“It’s clear to many of us that Cuomo and his people are working to
stop Melissa because it’s not in his interest to have her in there,”
said a prominent Democrat involved in the speakership battle.
“It’s certainly not in Cuomo’s political interest to have another
left-wing activist along with de Blasio running the city. The sense is
that Cuomo wants to see de Blasio defeated on this one, so that he’ll
start off as mayor weaker and not stronger, relative to the governor.”
Added a longtime political observer close to the speakership fight,
“The governor, who wants to run for president, doesn’t want to see the
city turned into a People’s Republic of New York at the same time he’s
trying to make the state at least look like it’s business friendly.”
Mayor-elect de Blasio, whose call for higher taxes on the wealthy
already put him on a collision course with Cuomo — who wants tax cuts to
boost his re-election — unexpectedly endorsed Mark-Viverito for speaker
this month, angering Heastie, Crowley and other party leaders.
Cuomo, a Westchester resident, is publicly neutral in the council contest, expected to be decided Jan. 8.
Insiders say Cuomo, elected as an economic moderate pledged to
reverse the state’s hostile-to-business reputation, fears he’s falling
out of favor with the Democrats’ left-wing voting blocs, which have
enormous clout in primary elections.
“Cuomo’s dilemma is that he wants New York City Democrats to like
him, but they’re all way to the left on economic issues, and at the same
time, he wants suburban and upstate voters to like him, but they’re
moderate to conservative,” said a longtime Democratic strategist.
While Cuomo has recently sought to win over the left with his own
program of higher taxes on the wealthy, his re-election strategy for
2014 is to present himself again as an economic moderate — at variance
with de Blasio’s agenda.
When George Pataki became governor in 1995, he ordered the name of
Mario Cuomo, the man he had just defeated, be removed from all highway
signs — saying they shouldn’t be used to promote a governor.
Now, Andrew Cuomo, in an unprecedented move, is doing just the
opposite — putting his name on the state Capitol Building, the
neighboring Empire State Plaza, and other state buildings in the Albany
area.
Cuomo’s aides claim it’s part of his effort to recognize the state’s
significant buildings and said posting the governor’s name is merely
“protocol” for new signs, an obvious falsehood given Pataki’s action.
“What this is about is the governor’s ego growing even larger as he
approaches re-election, and you have all these political flunkies
tripping over themselves to try to show how they’re working to promote
his image,’’ said a longtime Democrat who knows Cuomo well.
Upstate Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, who for months considered
seeking the GOP nomination for governor, has concluded, “It’s unlikely
that I’m going to run.”
McLaughlin, one of Cuomo’s sharpest critics and a leader of the
upstate opposition to his anti-gun SAFE Act, cited fund-raising
difficulties as the main reason for his decision.
“In my heart of hearts, I do want to run, but my head tells me it’s
enormously difficult or impossible to raise the money,’’ said the
Rensselaer County-based McLaughlin.

As the Wednesday vote for City Council speaker nears, Mayor
de Blasio is leaning harder on pols to support his pick, Melissa
Mark-Viverito, sources say.
He approached Bronx Democratic Chairman Carl Heastie on Friday for a
meeting to peel votes away from Mark-Viverito’s main rival, Dan
Garodnick, according to fellow Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera.
“The mayor is requesting to meet with The Bronx [council members],”
Cabrera told The Post. “We haven’t decided if we’re going to or not.
It’s going to come down to the wire.
“I’m just baffled. Why is the mayor getting involved so much in this thing? . . . Where’s the dignity and the pride?”
Even as Hizzoner took part in a photo-op at his own swearing-in
ceremony on Wednesday, he urged council members Stephen Levin of
Brooklyn and Andrew Cohen of The Bronx to vote his way, two sources with
knowledge of the exchanges revealed.
“The mayor wants to see a united council,” a source said.
Levin is among the 30 council members Mark-Viverito claims are
supporting her — four more than the 26 she needs to win the second most
powerful position in city government. Cohen is expected to back
Garodnick.
De Blasio began his campaign for Mark-Viverito before even taking office.
“I got a phone call from Mayor de Blasio,” recalled Councilman Inez
Dickens of a conversation before Christmas. “He simply asked me to vote
for Melissa. There were no threats of any kind, but the fact that the
mayor is calling you is intimidating.”
“These council-speaker battles are done behind the scenes,” said Hank
Sheinkopf, a veteran political strategist. “It’s never a done deal
until the final vote.”